Surgical Training
It is RCSI’s role to prepare surgical trainees to lead the delivery of surgical care, to support surgeons in practice and to help inform and shape policy.
The strategy for the Department of Surgical Affairs supports these imperatives in order to ensure high standards in the training and practice of surgery.
Read the Department of Surgical Affairs ‘Supporting Excellence in Surgical Training and Practice 2016 – 2020 Strategy here.
We will support the RCSI Noble Purpose by delivering excellence in Surgical Education and Training and by setting and supporting the highest possible standards in Surgical Practice. We will at all times act in the interest of patients and the quality of their care.
Surgical Training Pathway
The aim of the National Surgical Training Programme is to ensure that trainees satisfactorily complete a comprehensive, structured and balanced training programme, which prepares surgeons for independent practice in a particular specialty enabling them to enter the Specialist Register in their chosen specialty and be eligible for appointment as a consultant in the Republic of Ireland.
RCSI is the accredited Postgraduate Training Body for the delivery of Surgical and Emergency Medicine Training Programmes in the Republic of Ireland. It is recognised for this purpose by the Irish Medical Council (IMC) and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The RCSI is the advisory body for all matters in relation to Core and Specialist Training and makes recommendations for the awarding of the Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST).
Emergency Medicine Training in Ireland
Emergency Medicine is a field of practice based on the knowledge and skills required for the prevention, diagnosis and management of acute and urgent aspects of illness and injury affecting patients of all age groups with a full spectrum of undifferentiated physical and behavioural disorders.
It further encompasses an understanding of the development of pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency medical systems and the skills necessary for this development.
The National Emergency Medicine Training Programme (NEMTP) is a seven-year programme that takes doctors from internship (or later) through to Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in Emergency Medicine. The programme has two elements – three years of Core Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine (CSTEM) and four years of Advanced training (ASTEM). The programme is seamless in that trainees can progress from CSTEM to ASTEM without the need for additional training or experience. Progression is contingent on satisfactory completion of CSTEM, completion of the Intermediate Fellowship of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (or MRCEM) and success in a formal Assessment of Suitability for Advanced Training (ASAT) process.
While the aim of the programme is that Core trainees deemed suitable for Advanced training will progress, the number of Advanced training (SpR) posts available each year is determined in collaboration with HSE National Doctors Training and Planning (NDTP). Where the numbers seeking to progress from Core to Advanced training exceeds the agreed number of SpR posts in any year, competition for the posts will apply.
Currently, there is provision for doctors who have not completed formal CSTEM training in Ireland to apply for ASTEM each year. Trainees in this category will need to present evidence of CSTEM equivalence and meet examination requirements to be considered for shortlisting. These trainees will compete for SpR posts not filled by NEMTP core trainees i.e. where the number of CSTEM year 3 trainees deemed suitable for progression to Advanced training is less than the total number of SpR posts available. NEMTP CSTEM year 3 trainees deemed suitable for Advanced training will get preference for SpR posts over non-training programme applicants.
It is not possible to predict with any degree of certainty the number, if any, of SpR posts that may be available to non-NEMTP doctors in any year. The Irish Committee for Emergency Medicine Training strongly recommends CSTEM as the principal route to ASTEM.